Wrap-Ups

January Wrap Up

Sarah Robinson-Hatch11 Comments

Wow… what a month. What a start to 2020! We’ve had our fair share of disasters around the world, and sure, maybe some of us aren’t doing the best personally in terms of certain optimistic New Years resolutions (yep, I’m totally talking about myself), but we’ve survived. And if you’re lucky, you’ve even had the time to read a few books!

I started the year with a leisurely pace, working my way through books while lying on the couch under the air-conditioning and staying up until 3am impulse-buying ebooks. You know. The usual. In amongst my schedule of work, beach days, and a solid week spent watching Netflix, I managed to read nine books in total!

Time for a little breakdown:

  • Novels: 5
  • Short Stories: 2
  • Comics: 2
  • Audiobooks: 1 (also counted in “short stories”)

I’m so happy with the books I managed to read in January – my reading year is certainly off to a good start already! Ready to find out which books I loved the most? Check out my thoughts on all the below titles, then come tell me what your favourite book of January was down in the comments!

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The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky

I absolutely ADORED this novella! I totally thought I missed out on reading it completely because I didn’t preorder The Lady’s Guide, so I was thrilled when Mackenzi announced that it would be available for purchase! Of course, seeing as my bae Christian Coulson was reading it, I knew I had to listen to it on Audible. Despite the mixed reviews, I personally loved it. Sure, it read a bit like fanfic at times, but I liked that! All I was after was a cute, swoon-worthy story about my ultimate OTP, Monty and Percy, and I got it. You can’t deny it was adorable! If you loved The Gentleman’s Guide and need more of these two queer boys in your life, I highly recommend checking out their novella!

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Yes No Maybe So

As one of my most anticipated releases of 2020, I was ecstatic when I got my hands on an ARC of this book! I honestly knew nothing about it, but seeing as my fave Becky Albertalli co-authored it, I knew I had to put my entire life on hold to sit down and read it. I absolutely raced through this book, desperate to know what was going to happen! Because I saw Becky’s name, I immediately thought this was just going to be a cute contemporary—which I adore anyway. But it was so much more than that. Sure, it had an adorable romance subplot, but the story revolved around themes of prejudice, politics, and activism. It was a story about how every person has the power to make a difference, and that when we band together, we can achieve a whole lot. To say I loved this novel would be an understatement. It was phenomenal.

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Oasis

After reading Katya de Becerra’s What the Woods Keep, Oasis has been one of the books I’ve been most eager to read! I hoped it would be as creepy and atmospheric as her debut novel, and I sure wasn’t disappointed. This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and made me question everything I thought I knew about what had happened. Oasis is set in the desert and is about a group of teens who are saved by an oasis after a sandstorm hits—but what will save them from the oasis? This book was eerie, sizzling with suspense, and shook me with twists I never even saw coming. If you’re in the mood for a good mystery, I definitely recommend Katya’s latest release!

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The Girl Who Steals Christmas

What better way to start 2020 than by reading a short story from our fave, C.G. Drews! I’d been seeing Cait working on this story on Instagram for a little while, so I was super hyped when it was released. It was just as sweet and slightly heartbreaking as I expected! I adored The Boy Who Steals Houses and I desperately wanted more content after THAT ENDING, so this short story satisfied just a smidgen of my needs. It’s a prequel story all about Moxie who decides to save Christmas after finding her little sister’s screwed up letter to Santa in the bin. MY HEART. SOMEONE HOLD ME. It was just delightful… in a kind of sad but uplifting way. Perfection.

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Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #1 & #2

If you don’t already know from the abundance of Star Wars themed posts that have taken over my blog and social media in the last month… I recently watched all of Star Wars. And now I’m completely and utterly obsessed. Like, wears-my-hair-in-Rey-buns, talks-about-despising-sand, OBSESSED. And one of the character I love (of course) is Kylo Ren! After watching the three new films, I desperately wanted to know more about his backstory and learn more about Ben Solo. So sure enough, at 2am, I found myself on Amazon buying these comics. I HAVE ZERO REGRETS. I’m still waiting for a couple of them to come out, but I love this series so far. If you’re a diehard Kylo Ren fan, or even if you just want a bit more Star Wars content in your life, you should definitely check these comics out!

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Frankenstein

First reread of 2020! This one maaaay be a little unexpected, but I reread it because I’ve been going through another phase—my gothic obsessed phase. It all started by watching the new BBC’s Dracula, then I’ve been watching Penny Dreadful, and I decided to write something a little Frankenstein-inspired. Hence the reread! This is one of my favourite books of all time and I absolutely loved studying it in high school. I actually did my final English exam on it! This book holds such a special place in my heart. I think this is a book I’m going to be rereading every couple of years or so for the foreseeable future.

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The Girl With the Gold Bikini

Oh man, I loved this book! As an avid reader and supporter of #LoveOzYA, I’m always desperate to get my hands on every new release, and I thought—what better a time to read this book than when I’m on a beach vacation! So that’s exactly what I did, and I couldn’t get enough of it! It was the perfect blend of mystery, pop culture references, and feminism, and I was so here for it. Plus, all the Star Wars references made my heart sing! Ahh, I just adored it. If you enjoyed Veronica Mars, this is certainly the book for you.

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The Gravity Of Us

How is it possible that I’m pretty sure I’ve found another one of my favourite books of 2020, and we’re only one month into the year?! Well, the book gods have definitely smiled upon us so far, because I’ve just been loving everything I’ve been reading. All I knew about The Gravity of Us before diving into it was that it was queer—and honestly, that’s all it takes to sell me on a book. But then I discovered it was about space! And a Mars mission! And social media! Oh my god, all my favourite things have just been wrapped up into a neat 300 pages. This book is basically about a boy living in Brooklyn whose father gets chosen as a pilot for a Mars mission, and then his whole family is moved across the country to live in this ‘astronaut community’. And that’s where our protagonist meets a cute boy. *CUE SWOONING*. You have to add this book to your TBR ASAP!

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Have you read any of these books yet? Are any of them on your TBR? How many books did you read during January? I’d love to know!

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11 thoughts on “January Wrap Up”

  2. I’ve read a couple of these. I absolutely loved The Girl With The Gold Bikini, I thought it was just so good.
    Unfortunately, I didn’t like Yes No Maybe So.
    But I do need to read The Girl Who Stole Christmas asap! I don’t even care that it’s February, I need to read it!
    I’m glad you had such a good reading month, Sarah! 💜

    Reply

  6. UM EXCUSE ME??? Literally my reaction to reading your review about The Gravity of Us. I also did not know it was about space, which is my number one favorite thing in the universe, and now I need to get my hands on this book right the heck now.

    I’m so happy your January was full of amazing reads! Mine was, too, which seems like just such a blessing to start off the year in such a great way. Here’s hoping February is more of the same!

    Reply

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